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"Seriously?" I glance at him. "Who would deny a child a kidney?"

"Exactly!" Mario seems pleased about my disgust and he leans into it. "Due to privacy laws, I cannot find out who it was or why they pulled out, but it puts her back on the waiting list." He shakes his head.

"Her father isn't a match?" I ask casually.

"No. Not strong enough, I think they said."

"What about her mother?" The weight of the question hangs in the air between us for a few seconds until Mario turns to face me.

"That is why Leo wants Sabina."

I meet his gaze steadily, feigning confusion. Is he about to tell the truth? I thought he would keep it a much deeper secret, but I can't think of any other connection that they could use to twist Sabina into this.

"She is dead," Mario says, his voice heavy.

My heart stalls ever so slightly. "Dead?"

"Yes. She was assassinated. By your friend."

I play into the shock and relax my face as I step forward. "I'm sorry, what?"

"In New York, your friend Sabina might pretend to be a chef, but it makes perfect sense to me that she would be screwing up deals for other families. For years, she was an assassin here. She took out Leo's wife, likely in a bid to reach him, but when that failed, she fled to New York. He lost her for a while and almost had her back until she fled that night and ended up here."

An assassin? There's no way any of that is true. Thinking back to Sabina, my heart clenches. Mario spins these lies as easily as thread, and while part of me held onto my reservations just in case, there's nothing he tells me that has a semblance of truth. There's no honesty in his eyes.

"My God," I murmur. "Poor Leo."

"Exactly!" Mario grunts. "His wife was murdered. His child is sick. We will, of course, do what we can for her, but when Leo learned of Sabina, he saw his chance to finally get revenge. So I must ask you, Cassian…" He fixes me with a heavy look. "You must help me find Sabina and allow her to face justice here, rather than be returned to the States."

"Allow her?" I ask cautiously.

"You said many families in New York are demanding her, correct?"

I nod.

"Well, you're in that Suit thing, aren't you? Surely, you can use your influence to calm them and let them know she is being dealt with while the man she truly hurt gets the revenge he deserves?"

Now I understand the real reason Mario is playing nice with me. While he claims the Suit holds no leverage here, Leo Visconti still does business in New York and he needs that to remain smooth. Mario seems to believe my claim that many families demand her head, and that needs to be dealt with in New York. On top of that, Leo surely doesn't need the weight of an accidental attack against the Suit weighing him down, especially when it would make him a target for others.

"You know many will have issue with that, my team included," I remark coldly. "Leo may be a friend of yours, but his men nearly killed me. That can be seen as a threatening act against the Suit, and you know what that means."

"But don't you see?" Mario starts toward me. "You were a painful accident made by men just trying to get their Don the revenge he deserves for what happened to his wife while his child is dying. Surely, you can see things from his perspective? And look at you. You're alive and healthy." He turns sadly to Illyana. "She is not."

He really will stoop to any level. Anger ignites in my chest like static and ideally, I'd love to end things here and now, but there are still too many unknown factors. I have a name and that's a start.

"Come, Ragazzo. We are family. We help one another. Without me, you wouldn't even exist." He laughs as he claps me on the shoulder again. "How can you let the murderer of this poor girl's mother roam free?"

I nod once and sigh, feigning my defeat. "You're right. I'll make some calls and see what I can do."

"Excellent!" Mario, happy with my response, wastes no time in leading us back downstairs. Once we're in the parking lot, I quickly dial Raven's number. It can't hurt to put on a show.

"Joker?" I say as she answers the call, immediately signaling that code names must be used.

"Jack," she replies. "What do you need?"

"I need an assist." With the call on speaker to give Mario the illusion that I trust him, I flash him a smile as I speak. "Sabina, the woman I was tracking? She's gone AWOL. She's an assassin, which means she'll have the capability and contacts to get off this island and vanish. We need to find her before that happens."

"Sure thing," Raven replies. "Anything else?"